The pear is not so useful a fruit as
the apple, nor so showy in color; but it has a more delicate and spicy
flavor, and often is of an immense size."
"Yes, indeed!" said Clara. "Don't you remember, Miss Harson, that
sometimes Edith and I can have only one pear divided between us at
dessert because they are so large?"
"Yes, dear; and I think that half a duchess pear is as much as can be
comfortably managed at once."
"Well," observed Malcolm, "I don't want half an apple.--But, Miss
Harson, do they ever have 'pear-howlings' in England?"
"I have never read of any," was the reply, "and I think that strange
custom is confined to apple trees. And there is no mention made of
either pears or pear trees in the Scriptures."
"What are prickly-pears?" asked Clara. "Do they have thorns on 'em?"
"There is a plant by this name," replied her governess, "with large
yellow flowers, and the fruit is full of small seeds and has a crimson
pulp. It grows in sandy places near the salt water; it is abundant in
North Africa and Syria, and is considered quite good to eat; but neither
plant nor fruit bears any resemblance to our pear trees: it is
a cactus."
"Won't you have a story for us this evening, Miss Harson?" asked Edith,
rather wistfully.
"Perhaps so, dear--I have been thinking of it--but it will not be about
pear trees."
"Oh, I don't care," with a very bright face; "I'd as soon have it about
cherry trees, or--'Most anything!"
Miss Harson laughed, and said,
"Well, then, I think it will be about cherries; so you must rest on
that.
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